Luise White has asked in a recent article ‘what are we supposed to do about Ranger's role in the history of the 1960s, and his role in the broader historiography of the country [Zimbabwe]?’Footnote ¹ We might search for some answers in Terence Ranger's latest book, Writing Revolt, which is intended to serve as a memorial to both himself and to the scores of African activists who he encountered during his long career. Based largely on the contents of the Ranger Papers at Rhodes House, contemporaneous letters back to his parents, and the diary of John Reed, Writing Revolt details Ranger's engagement with emerging African nationalism in colonial Zimbabwe. As the title suggests, Writing Revolt is primarily a narrative of how he and his wife Shelagh Campbell-Clarke were moved to enter into nationalist politics (p. 13).

Once in Rhodesia and looking beyond the polite veneers of white society, Ranger became increasingly disillusioned with the ways that black Africans were treated, lamenting that ‘in mid-1957 there was no militant or radical African organization’ (p. 21) which he could presumably join. Instead he became chairman of the Christian Action Group prior to closer relationships with the leaders of the Southern Rhodesian African National Congress (SRANC) such as Joshua Nkomo, which signalled his ‘formal connection with nationalism’ (p. 22).

During this time he also decided to start an ‘African politics project’ that would serve as ‘a history of the people of this country rather than its rulers’ (p. 38). Becoming swept up in the events that followed the Nyasaland emergency, he helped establish the Southern Rhodesian Legal Aid and Welfare Fund Committee (SRLAWFC), which assisted political detainees and their families, and the oppositional journal Dissent. Reflecting on his work as a historian, and shaped by his engagement with African nationalists, Ranger decided to reinterpret the 1896–7 uprising, as Revolt in Southern Rhodesia.

For Ranger, the untimely death of Sketchley Samkange provided a new sense of urgency for the need to desegregate the streets of Salisbury and, indeed, the agenda of African nationalism. Following the banning of the National Democratic Party (NDP) (which he had joined after quitting Todd's Central Africa Party), Ranger joined the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), and with their banning in September 1962, he was restricted to within three miles of his house for three months (p. 129). During this time, he continued to work for the SRLAWF, preparing for ‘renewed activity when my own restriction ended’ (p. 136), also remaining in constant contact with detainees such as Maurice Nyagumbo.

Following the end of his period of restricted movements, and upon returning from a holiday in Barotseland, Ranger received notice that he was ‘a prohibited immigrant with instructions to leave the Federation in two weeks’ (p. 143). Whilst living in Dar es Salaam, the Rangers' home became a ‘refuge for old friends’ (p. 164) and Ranger continued his engagement with African nationalism in Rhodesia. In concluding Writing Revolt, Ranger explains that he was committed to liberal nationalism, coming to think ‘that my nationalist dissidence of the 1960s foreshadowed my present criticism of Mugabe's authoritarianism. I don't see this as a repentance from earlier nationalist conformity, but as a continuation of the ideals and practices of the 1960s.’ (p. 182)

It seems that Ranger has missed an opportunity in Writing Revolt to definitively answer critics who have argued that Revolt in Southern Rhodesia was not only the ‘foundation on which most nationalist and “patriotic” historiography rests', but that it overemphasised the importance of spirit mediums in the first Chimurenga.Footnote ² Additionally a more detailed discussion as to why he left ZAPU to join the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) would have shed important light on the factional nature of African nationalism in this crucial period. Writing Revolt, although an immensely readable account of Ranger's political career, really places us no closer to answering White's question.